


Lucky Few

by Ellendili



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Leadership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 21:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2125458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellendili/pseuds/Ellendili
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I own nothing.</p><p>A few POVs of Easy company's men during the siege of Bastogne.</p><p>Small changes of the events in the book and show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky Few

_**"Sir, I hope you take care of yourself (Better care than I've seen you exercise) for the reason there are too few like you and certainly none to replace you."**_  
Leo Boyle, in his letter to Richard Winters from the American 110th General Hospital outside Oxford.  
 **(from “Band of Brothers” by Stephen E Ambrose)**

 

**BASTOGNE, BELGIUM** ****  
December 1944 - January 1945.  


 

**Buck**

  
The morning was cold. Well, every morning was cold. The few hours before dawn were the worst.  
The men, cuddled up together in their foxholes for the little warmth they could get, still slept that edgy, restless, feverish sleep of soldiers on the front line.  
Lt. Buck Compton, leader of the first platoon in Easy company, stiffly climbed out of his foxhole, trying not to disturb his friends, Toye and Malarkey.  
He looked at his watch, a goodbye gift from Kate. He got her break up letter a while ago, already in those woods around a small belgian town. Buck tried to remember her face at their last meeting. But he couldn't. He had seen so much pain and death that the peaceful memories of his home and life before the war, became more distant and blurry with every day in those damned foxholes of the Bastogne woods.  
The watch showed 5AM. They got full three hours of quiet sleep. That was rare. "suppose the Krauts needed some rest too" mumbled Buck to himself, carefully stepping on the clean, crispy snow on his way to the CP tent.

The mortars and shelling of last night wasn't as bad as always. Leo Boyle got two of his fingers blown of and Bill Keihn got a shell through his calf. But that was it. A good night.  
Buck shivered. A good night usually meant a really bad day.  
Compton arrived to the CP after 3 minutes walking south to the town of Bastogne. There, in the shadow of the tall pines that sheltered the small tent from view, he found Dick Winters. Already awake, the battalion leader sat on a fallen tree and was stirring some snow in a small cup. Buck knew that the Captain was going to shave with the ice cold water. The other soldiers and officers let they beards grow wild and long during battle. Not Winters. Always clean shaved, no matter how cold or tired he was. Always staying among his men while the other high officers such as Colonel Sink and Colonel-Lt Strayer, preferred to stay out of the front line. Winters was always in a minute run from his soldiers and Buck knew that only a great effort stopped his Captain from taking himself the patrols and outposts with his men.

"Morning, Captain", Compton clapped Winters lightly on the back and sat beside him on the fallen tree.  
"Morning, Buck. How's the fellows?" Winters splashed some soaped water on his cheek, wincing at the coldness, and began to shave with slow, methodic motions.  
"They're fine. You know. Cold and hungry and homesick. But fine. We had a quiet night."  
"Yes." Winters looked worried. He always was worried about his men. He spilled the rest of the water on the snow and wipe his face with small towel. "C'mmon, Buck, I want to inspect the line and see of the patrols for today"  
"Dick..." Compton hesitated. Winters was taking too much risks. He was the battalion CO but sometimes acted like one of his platoon leaders. "Lipton and I could do it".  
"I know." Winters looked at his friend and smiled sadly. "I just... I know, Buck. Lets go."  
Unlike Sobel or Dike who expected unquestionable, almost blind obedience from the men just for their rank, Winters always acted by his own motto. "Follow me" He said. And the men followed into the worst of battles. That was the way he lived and that was the way he comanded his company. Every thing, small or big that he demanded of his soldiers, he first did himself and did it perfectly.  
Buck sighed and got up. "Alright, Captain. But I swear to god, if you get yourself hit and leave Easy to Dike, I'm gonna kill you".  
The Captain laughed lightly and the two officers started to walk toward the front foxholes.

 

**Gene**

  
Doc Roe sat in his foxhole and stared into the woods. He Could feel the freezing cold creeping up from his wet boots. He could feel his stomach aching and twisting with hunger. He could feel his muscles burn with exhaustion. He could hear the distant shooting, the earth around him shacked occasionally from the artillery fire. He could smell the gunpowder and smoke in the frozen air. And most of all, his trained ears would catch the shouts and moaning of the men. His friends fighting for their lives. And he didn't care. Not anymore. Not since her death.  
Eugene Roe was the best medic in Easy company. Fast thinker, courageous, emphatic. He was a savior for the wounded soldiers. Always in action, searching for supplies or trying to help the wounded that wasn't hit hard enough to be evacuated from the front, now Doc Roe just laid there, indifferent to the world. Thinking only of her.  
The krauts destroyed the field hospital in town. Many volunteers of the red cross were killed. And She among them. Rene. Doc thought of her hands, dirty with blood and ash but still so slim and beautiful He thought of her eyes, full of tears of compaction but not fear. Never fear. He thought of her lips with the taste of belgian chocolate yet about them. Or so he dreamt they would taste. They never got their first kiss. And now they never would. So Eugene just sat there. No longer caring about the damn krauts and twice damned war.  
He closed his eyes and began to dose slowly under the falling snow.  
"DOC!" Someone landed harshly beside him and pulled at his shoulder. "Doc! Get up!! Can't you hear us calling?! Get up now!"  
Eugene opened his eyes and saw "Babe" Heffron's face right in front of him. "Okay." He said slowly and pulled the thin blanket up to his chest.  
Heffron snatched the blanket from his hands an started pushing him out from the foxhole "Okay, c'mmon! Get up. Not okay lay down! Gene! C'mmon Dammit! The Captain's hit!"  
 _Winters_. Gene shook his head and all the sounds and smells and feels of the battlefield coming rushing into his head causing him to gasp.  
He got to help Winters.  
"Show the way Heffron. Quickly!" His own voice sounds odd to him. Rene was dead. But Winters, his Captain, his friend, his hero was still alive. And Eugene is going to make sure that he stay so.

 

**Lip**

  
Sgt Carwood Lipton was moving between the men of Easy company with Winters and Buck. Lipton watched his Captain offering the soldiers a handshake or a clap on the shoulder, a smoke or a few quiet words. Noticing each and every one of them. The men sat straighter and looked sharper when they saw their leader. He haven't left the front line, not even for a short brake, but he did sent some of his men back to the town to get some rest and a hot meal. Even on Christmas eve, when the rest of the command sat in a warm house with steaming turkey on the table, Winters stayed in the woods with his tired men. They all knew that he is doing every thing in his power to make their survival more bearable and they all loved him for it.  
Lipton heard Winters laughing at some crack of George Luz and smiled beside himself. Sitting there, at the edge of his foxhole, Listening to the conversation between the Captain and his men, Lipton thought about this unique man. Winters had a rare gift always do and say the right thing to inspire in his soldiers hope and motivation. His unyielding wish to stay at the front line was truly admirable. Lipton knew for sure that many men of Easy company would have brake already under the difficulties and harshness of the war if not Winters with his quiet yet powerful presence. He always had been this way. Lipton's mind wandered from the woods and snow of Bastogne to that one night at the Curahee when he came so close to despair...

_More than anything in the world, Privet Lipton wanted to stop. Just stop running. To lay down on the warm earth. To breathe in the clean air with the smell of pines and hint of smoke. To close his eyes and give his aching body the so needed rest._  
 _But he couldn't. He had to keep running. Three miles up. Three miles down. In full gear. Again. And again. And again._  
 _The first time up the Curahee today was the usual practice. They were use to it by now. Every single day. Some days the skies were clean and the sun high and almost unbearably hot. Some days you couldn't even see the sky behind heavy, grey clouds which will break over the camp in unmerciful cold stream. Three miles up, three miles down. You stop, you fall out. You complain, you fall out. Every small infraction brought on the soldiers the disproportionately rage of their CO, Captain Sobel. Today Lipton's platoon earned the second run up the Curahee when two of the privets drank from their canteen during the marsh. Both of them were on their way home by now but their friends climbed the mountain again._  
 _After the second climb there was a short break. Lt Winters, the platoon leader, looked at his tired men and ordered an hour of history lecture. He seemed not to notice when the soldiers dosed off a bit in their seats._  
 _But that wasn't enough for Sobel. He came with surprise inspection in the barracks while the men were at lunch and found some privet letters from home in few of the foot lockers. The punishment for that was a third run. Sobel wanted to send the whole company but Winters reminded him that the men are on mess duty for the day. Only six soldiers ran up the Curahee for the third time. Lipton among them. That was the price for the short letter from his baby sister. Three miles up, three miles down. Somewhere on the middle of the way down, Boon Joeys stumbled on the rocky ground and fell with a twisted ankle. Carwood helped him up and they both were the last one to reach Sobel at the bottom of the mountain._  
 _"Privet Joeys. Gather up your things. You're out. Go. Privet Lipton!"_  
 _"Yes Sir!" Carwood jumped to attention, his all body protesting at such harsh treatment._  
 _"Tell your platoon leader you will be with me this night. Meet me here at 2200. Full gear. Go."_  
 _"Yes Sir." Lipton walked to the barracks and collapsed on his bunk. He volunteered for the airborne to prove that he could be one of the best. Now he wasn't so sure that he was. He wasn't sure of anything anymore._  
 _When he told Winters about Sobels' orders, the Lt. Looked at him carefully and just nodded. There was nothing he could do._  
 _"So... Privet Lipton... Can you guess what will be our mission for tonight?" Sobel seemed to enjoy the torment._  
 _"No, Sir." Liptons' voice came out horace. Even talking was painful._  
 _"Well, your gonna to run The Curahee of course. Alone. To show you that in battle you can count only on yourself. Understood?"_  
 _"Yes, sir" Carwood tried not to sound too desperate._  
 _"You have 20 minutes. Go."_  
 _And so Lipton ran. Three miles up. Three miles down. For the fourth time today._  
 _He couldn't feel or think any longer. He just put one leg in front the other. One step at a time trying not to fall. He knew that he won't be able to get up again._  
 _He didn't notice the jogging steps behind him and raised his eyes from the ground only when he felt a light touch on his shoulder._  
 _"Alright, Private?" Lt. Winters ran beside him up the hill._  
 _"Sir?" Carwood wasn't sure what to make of this. He was so tired._  
 _"C'mon Lipton. You're doing fine. Just follow me"_  
 _And Lipton followed. They ran the three miles up in silence. Saving their breath. The fact that Winters was there made Carwood stronger somehow. He knew that if he fall now, there will be someone next to him. He wasn't alone after all._  
 _When the three miles down were almost done, Winters said: "Captain Sobel ordered me to choose three men from the platoon to promote them. I'm going to choose Malarkey, Guarnere and you." He looked at the astonished face of his soldier and smiled widely, "Carry on Sergeant."_

"Carry on, Sergeant" Winters waved his hand to his men ans took a few steps toward the next foxhole... BABOOM! The snow to the left from the Captain exploded with ear cracking noise, Lipton threw himself to the ground and started to crawl toward Winters who laid with his face down in the snow.  
"Heffron!!! Bring Doc! Fast! The rest of you, take cover! Now!!"  
Carwood reached Winters and pulled his shoulder to turn him on his back. The mortars continued to fall around them with terrible noise, the earth came in high fountain with every hit, blocking his vision. A tree felt with great thump just a few yards from his head and then someone in steel casket landed on his knees in the snow next to the fallen Captain.  
"Buck!" Lipton yelled, trying to cover the explosions with his voice "does anyone else got hit?!"  
"I don't know!" Compton yelled back "Dammit Dick! Lip, we have to get him out of here!"  
Nodding curtly, Lipton pulled the unconscious Captain up and wrapped Winters' left hand around his neck, Buck did the same from the right. They started to run, dragging their Captain's feet on the ground, ducking from the whistling shells.  
"Malark! Luz! Get down! Down!" Lipton yelled to the two men who started to run in their direction. "We got this! Stay low! Back to the foxholes! Now!!"  
Another mortar landed just in front of him with deafening noice and he moved quickly to the right, stumbled on a fallen brunch and nearly fell on the ground but Compton grabbed his belt on time and helped him to straighten up.  
"Alright Lip?! C'mmon lets go, in there!" Buck pointed toward big rock standing in the middle of the woods. They put one last effort on their already shaky hands and legs and pulled Winters under the considerable quiet of the stone shelter.  
Lipton looked at his Captain in the first time since the hit. His left shoulder was a bloody mess, Carwood guessed that it was hit by a shrapnel. The ginger hair above the forehead was dark with blood that continued to flow. Buck pulled out of his pocket a clean bandage and pressed it to the head wound.  
Winters moaned and opened blue eyes clouded with pain.  
"God damn it Dick! I told you I'm gonna kill you! Don't you dare die on me, you hear that??" Buck's voice sounded muffled.  
Lipton looked into his face, and bit his lip in distress Where the hell is Doc Roe?!  
"I'm gonna find you a ride to town Captain" he said, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt "you'll be fine. It' s gonna be fine. Doc on his way. Just... just hang on will you?"  
He started to getting up but Winters caught his hand and whispered faintly "No.... No ride. No evacuation..."  
"Winters, shut up. Lip go and find that damned jeep!" Buck looked annoyed but Carwood signed him to be quiet and took a few steps out of the shelter. The shelling had stopped as suddenly as its begun. A strange silence covered the woods after bombing, it took a few seconds until Carwood understood that wasn't silence at all. He could hear now the men starting to crawl out of the poor shelter of their foxholes. He heard a yell for medic, moans of pain. Someone else was hit. A few colorful curses in New Yorkish accent made him smile. Well, it wasn't Bill Guarnere . Then a mumble and a breach of surprising laughter. Probably not Luz either. That's good. But what about the others...  
Lipton glanced back and saw Winters trying to sit himself up while Buck looked really annoyed by it. Then he heard running footsteps and Babe Heffron with Doc after him showed up behind the trees.  
"Doc! Finally! Quickly, the Captain's here!. Babe, you go back to the fellows And bring us casualty status. Go."  
"Lip..." Winters's voice was faint "Go. Go back... The boys need you..." He winced in pain as Doc Roe tore his jacket's sleeve. "You too, Buck."  
"No way. I'm not leaving..."  
"Lt. Compton." Now the Captain's voice rang with the familiar steel that made Carwood jump to attention so many times before "Go back to your men. Both of you. Now." and then he added with a softer tone "Doc got this. Right Eugene?"  
"I've got you, Captain." Doc nodded as he took out his scissors and began pulling out the shrapnel in Winters's shoulder. The wounded gasped and paled. "I'll be fine. Go" he said between gritted teeth and closed his eyes  
Lipton looked at Compton and nodded. "C'mon Buck. Captain's order"  
Buck sighed and got to his feet. "I want him out of here as soon as possible, Doc. I'll send someone to help you with that."  
He began to stride quickly toward the rest of the company. When Lipton turned to follow, he heard the Captain saying quietly "No evacuation, Gene. I have to stay here. Understand? I have to..." His voice trailed off again and Lipton shook his head sadly. He knew his Captain won't pay enough attention to his own pain and weakness and found himself worried about that selfless, brave man. The company needed Winters. And Lip needed him.

 

**Winters**

  
The first sense to come back was the scent. The thick, heavy air smelled of blood, rot and misery.  
Dick opened his eyes and for a moment laid there motionless, staring at the unfamiliar dirty ceiling. He tried to remember were he was but the only things that came were the memory of him inspecting the line, then a loud whistle and darkness.  
Winters tried to remember more, his head hurt from the effort. I was hit. He thought, I told Buck, no evacuation. Apparently he didn't listen. He turned his head left but immediately felt nauseas. His all body felt weak and bruised like after a long and cruel fight. His head pounded with pain and his left arm was heavy and felt strange. Unattached to the rest of his body.  
Winters swallowed painfully and tried to turn his head again, this time to the right.  
He saw a man in old uniform sleeping on a chair next to his bed. The man's head was bowed down to his chest but Winters recognized the thick, black, unruly hair of his friend.  
"Ni...” his voice came out in a horace whisper. Dick coughed and licked his dry lips. “Nix...” he tried again, this time more successfully. The sleeping man jerked and opened his eyes. “You're awake! Finally!” Nixon shacked off the remains of his sleepiness and looked at his wounded friend. “Damn, you got us worried. Dick. How are you filling?”  
“Fine. Sore. And my hand feels like it isn't mine. I'm fine, Nix. How long was I out?”  
"About a day or so. Sink wanted to send you back to England but Buck said you will have him hanged if he let them move you away from the battalion. So here you are in this pitiful excuse of a hospital. Dike is in command so you can imagine.. anyway, . The boys are really worried about you, you know?”  
“Did some....” Winters' voice shook a little. Was it the pain or maybe the emotion, Nixon wasn't sure. “Did someone else got hit?”  
Nix hesitated “You know what, the nurses told me you need to save your strength. I'll let you rest now” he got up abruptly, avoiding his friend's eyes.  
“Lew. Tell me. Who?” Winters tried to sound calm but his heart raced. He felt the pulse pounding in his head. _No. Please no. Not again._  
Nix sighed and sat back on the crooked chair. " There was a direct hit in a foxhole” He paused “Muck and Penkala... It was quick. I'm sorry, Dick.”  
Winters just shook his head and covered his eyes with his healthy hand. _Skip. He was one of the few who weren't wounded even though they were on the front line since D-Day. And now he was dead. And his best friend with him. Alex Penkala had twelve brothers and a drunk of a father. His older sister raised the kids by her self and now...._  
The Captain stifle a quiet sob. So much death. Too much.  
"You okay, Dick?”  
“Yeah.” Winters raised his head and looked at his friend “You Know...”  
“I do.” Nix sighed again “Buck is going home for a while. Don't worry!” he added quickly at the fear that flared in his friend's eyes “He's okay. Just... needed some brake of all of this, I guess. Listen, I have to go and tell the fellows you're awake. You hang tough will you?”  
“I will. We all could use some brake, Nix. But tell them I'll be back tomorrow and want them to be as sharp as they can”  
“Tomorrow??” Nixon shook his head in disbelief “Are you sure it's a good idea' Dick? You still look like a ghost you know...”  
Winters chuckled lightly “Well... Lets see if I can spook some krauts. Oh and Nix, keep an eye on Malarkey for me, will you? Muck and Penkala were his best friends... and he was really close with Buck too. Tell Lipton to go easy on him for a time. And don't let Dike do anything stupid!”  
Nix nodded and saluted half seriously “Aye, Captain. Now get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow.”  
“Tomorrow.” Winters nodded his friend goodbye and laid down on the hard bed. Around him people suffered, moaned and cursed. He felt weak and feverish but his thoughts wandered outside the walls of the hospital, outside the village, to those woods which, he knew, gave some uncertain shelter to the men he cared for so much. His men of Easy Company.

 

**Malarkey**

  
Don Malarkey haven't slept in four days. Every time he tried to close his eyes he saw the torn up bodies of his friends, the blackened earth where their foxhole had been just a moment ago. Two of his best friends were dead, another two so badly hit that he wasn't sure they'll survive. Buck was broken and sent home. Even Winters left the company. Nixon told them that the Captain will back as soon as he got better. But four days passed without their CO and the company felt like an orphaned child. Dike was the worst. Malarkey stopped pretending that he gave a damn about than incompetent officer and paid attention only to Lipton's orders. Mostly Lip left him alone. He gave him the Luger that killed Hubb, patted him lightly on the shoulder and left Don sitting alone in his foxhole.  
For four days he just sat there, barely eating, getting up only to relieve himself. He polished the Luger over and over until the black iron shone and gleamed in the cold winter sun. Lipton canceled all patrols and outposts, ordered the boys to deepen their foxholes and work on their covers of branches and leaves. He just wanted to keep them safe as possible until they'll get new orders.  
Malarkey didn't care. He polished his Luger with slow, even movements and tried not to think. Lip and George Luz covered his foxhole and tried to make conversation. But even Georges' sharp humor wasn't enough to make Don smile. He continued to sit there quietly, staring at the gun in his hands until both his friends stooped talking as well, shooting each other an anxious glance.  
They were so preoccupied by their miserable thoughts that didn't heard the soft steps behind their backs. Don looked up only when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice said “Hello boys”.  
“Captain!” Lip jumped on his feet but Winters waved him back to his sit “As you were, Seargant. Here let me sit with you guys”. He lowered himself on the ground between George and Lipton, shook hands with both of them and smiled to Don who sat across them. Malarkey noticed that he is trying not to move his left hand.  
So the Captain was back. Don Knew that he ought to feel happy about it but he didn't. He just felt numb and tired. He saw Winters looking at him with some concern and then addressed his friends “Would you give us a minute, guys?”  
“Sure thing, Sir” Luz answered quickly and got up.  
"We'll tell the others you're here, Captain” Lip rose as well “The fellows could use some good news”. Both of them disappeard behind the trees and Malarkey staid alone with his commander.  
Winters pulled out of his pocket a flat flask and handed it to Malarkey. Don looked at his Captain in disbelief. Everybody knew than Winters didn't drink.  
Winters chuckled at his surprise “It's not mine. A present from Captain Nixon. Vat69, no less. God knows where he getting his scotch in this place...”  
Don smiled weakly and took a long sip. The drink burned his throat and then he felt the cold liquid running through his all body, making his heart thrum and his head ring. Suddenly he felt warm and even peaceful for the first time in long, long time.  
"Alright, that's enough for now” Winters tried to sound severe but there was a smile in his voice.  
Don returned him the flask regretfully and studied the man in front of him. “How's your shoulder, Sir?” he asked noticing again the uncomfortable pose of Winters' left hand.  
"It's fine, Don, don't worry about it.” Winters bend his head a bit, searching for Malarkey's eyes. “Malark,” The Captain said “I need you to get yourself together. I know It's hard. Unbearable even. But you can't fall apart now. They are gone. But we are still here. Your kid brother would want that Luger, you know.”  
Don looked at the piece in his hands and for the first time in a long while aloud himself to think about Johnny The red headed ten years old, thin and small, with his always bruised knees and laughing eyes. He smirked fondly at the memory. “Yeah, I bet he would”.  
Winters nodded and got up from the earth, extending his healthy hand to help Malarkey out the foxhole. “Good. Now, C'mmon. I have some news”  
They made their way through the surprisingly quiet woods. Don wondered how long that quiet will last. When they arrived to the main camp, Lipton already gathered the men around the CP tent.  
Malarkey looked at his friends. So few left from the company that trained together in Toccoa and jumped together in Normandy. The men he saw now looked so different from the young paratroopers he met almost three years ago. Thirsty for battle. Unafraid, untouchable Convinced in their just cause.  
Now they all were veterans. They suffered many wounds and pain and loss. They saw death and they caused death. They were cold, hungry and most of all, tired. Tired from the incessant shelling, from the paralyzing cold, from the unbearable tension and the closeness of certain death. They were tired of the war. But in sight of their admired commander, the men of Easy company stood taller. His presence alone was enough to straighten hunched shoulders and lit the dull eyes with sparkle of hope.  
Malarkey looked at his Captain. Winters stood with one hand around Lip's shoulders. He took a deep breath to restrain his emotion and said with his clear, calm voice that made Don feel comforted somehow: “Listen up. I know we all exhausted. I know that the past weeks were the hardest. I have new orders from regiment. The siege, of Bastogne is over. Tomorrow we will take the town of Foye and it will be our last fight here.” quiet rustle ran like wave among the men. Winters looked at them, moving his gaze from one to another, looking each in the eye. “I'll tell you this. No matter what tomorrow will bring, I know that each and every one of you will do his best. And in your case it's more than enough. I know you won't disappoint me.” Winters waited for the quiet “Yes, Sir” from his soldiers and nodded them “Carry on, boys. It will be alright.” He whispered something in Lipton's ear and then jumped lightly into Malarkey's foxhole. "Take some rest, Don. I'll watch the line for a time” He said.  
Malarkey hesitated a brief moment and then said “Thank you, Sir”. The simple words contained more than just a thank for the long wanted rest, there was gratitude in them for all the things that this unusual man did for his company since he first got the command on them and kept doing even now. Don leaned back on his foxhole earth wall with a sigh, closing his eyes. There wasn't blood and death this time. Only the blessed darkness and quiet.

 

**Epilogue**

  
On 13 January 1945, Easy company moved out of the woods of Bastogne and made an armed assault on the town of Foy. The company suffered many more casualties in wounded and killed. Mostly because Lt. Dike conducted himself and his men so poorly in the field that Captain Winters relieved him in the middle of the battle. His replacement was Captain Spiers, a man with some doubtful reputation but undoubted courage and military talent. Spiers stayed as the company CO until the end of the war and earned the respect of his men and the friendship of Major Winters who got his oak leaves soon after Bastogne.  
Even though Easy company had three talented and capable commanding officers, all the veterans, in all times during the war an after always referred themselves as “Dick Winters' Company”.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in english wich is not my native language. So if you find some grammar mistakes, please let me know. I'm more than willing to learn and improve my writing.
> 
> Also, many thanks to my wonderful beta. couldn't do it without her.


End file.
